Social housing tenants in NSW will be the beneficiaries of up to $1 billion in Commonwealth Rental Assistance over the next 20 years, following the transfer of 14,000 social housing properties to the Community Housing sector.
Minister for Social Housing Pru Goward announced the successful providers today and said the transfer means Community Housing Providers (CHPs) will now manage more than 40,000 social housing properties in NSW.
“More than 30,000 tenants are already benefitting from CHP managed properties – these providers are able to support vulnerable tenants achieve positive change in their lives through employment and education opportunities,” Ms Goward said.
Ms Goward said the transfer would also benefit social housing tenants by leveraging local networks to strengthen the community housing sector.
“By transferring management to CHPs we are harnessing an untapped resource that can vastly improve the experience of people living in social housing managed by CHPs,” Ms Goward said.
“NSW continues to lead the way when it comes to social housing reform, we are well ahead of any other state or territory in our transfer to the CHP sector, ensuring we have a more sophisticated and diverse social housing system.”
The transfer of social housing properties to the community housing sector continues the Government’s commitment to develop the capacity of non-government housing providers increasing the share of properties managed by CHPs from 19 to 32 per cent.
The NSW Government will maintain ownership of all of the properties and will lease them for a 20-year period to the successful CHPs.
Tenants will remain in their homes, retain all of their current tenancy rights and lease conditions, and will not have any change in their income after rent.